ASUS ZenFone 2 with 5.5-inch display Launched in India from Rs 12999

At the CES 2015, Asus had announced this well powered $200 ZenFone 2, and that was quite a long wait for the Indian customers to see the official unveiling. Asus finally launches the ZenFone 2 smartphone in India, a phablet with 5.5-inch 1080p display, Intel Atom 64-bit chipset and a camera combination of 13-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel front-facing cameras. The price is set at Rs. 19999 for the 4GB variant, and the phone is available for pre-order today.

The actual flagship model ZE551ML has 4GB of RAM supporting the Intel Atom Z3580 quad-core processor at 2.3 GHz, and this is priced at , while the price of Rs. 12999 is for the 2GB RAM variant (ZE550ML) that supports Intel Atom Z3560 SoC.

Update: Asus ZenFone 2 was much hyped for its pricing, too aggressive with $200 as a tag for the base model with 2GB RAM, and Intel Z3560 chipset. The device is now available for pre-order in China, for a price starting at $300, which is a little higher than what Asus announced for it.

We’ll still have to wait for any official pricing from Asus, as this is a retailer selling the units on AliExpress for that price.

Earlier:
The Taiwanese brand ASUS doesn’t want to slow down the pace of its range of devices in the ZenFone series, and what the company just announced at the CES 2015, is just brilliant – a device priced so aggressively for the specs offered. The device is certainly looking better, and with the pricing set by Asus is what can put questions on Xiaomi and OnePlus, known for the best pricing.

The ZenFone 2 has a 5.5-inch 1080p display with the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection and IPS technology, while the internal specs are based on the model, as it ranges from Z3560 Intel processor to Z3580, and the storage/RAM change as well.

Another great upgrade is the battery, as all the models of the ZenFone 2 are coming packed with a 3000 mAh battery. The device has the Dual SIM card slot, and a MicroSD card slot as well for storage expansion. If you haven’t noticed already, no other device has a 4GB RAM built-in, and the Asus ZenFone 2 can claim to be the first one to boast that.

The ZenFone 2 has a 13-megapixel camera on the back, with the Dual LED flash with Dual tone for more natural-look colors in brightened captures, and there is OIS included as well. On the front is a 5-megapixel selfie camera with wide angle lens for the group selfies. Both the cameras are a f/2.0 imager, much better than f/2.7 on the ZenFone Zoom (though the reason is different). Thanks to the addition of PixelMaster technology, low-light capturing is expected to still be as perfect as it was earlier.

The connectivity is great as well, with the 64-bit chipset making it possible for LTE Cat.4 and all the other basic options are there as well. And finally, the 3000 mAh battery is coming with the quick charge capability. According to the company, the device can be charged from zero to 60 percent in just about 39 minutes.

Asus has gone LG’s way by pushing the volume buttons towards the back, just below the camera (but that is just the volume rocker, not power button). This makes it possible for the company to make it more ergonomic aesthetically, and thus the ZenFone 2 is just 3.9mm thick on the edges, while 10.9mm at the center.

The brushed metal finish that has been the most attractive in the design of the ZenFone series, sticks there in all the color variants – Osmium Black, Sheer Gold, Glacier Gray, Glamor Red and Ceramic White. ZenUI is layered over Android 5.0 Lollipop and this has a single hand use features, ZenMotion touch gestures, Trend Micro Security integration in the browser and much more.

We’ll get to know more details very soon, but the only detail we know is about the availability in Q2 2015, and the $199 price for the base model, which is indeed a killer pricing. Asus has also announced the Asus ZenFone Zoom smartphone with a 13MP camera having 3x optical zoom.

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Chetan Bhawani is a dentist, a tech blogger and a passionate writer in the field of technology. He keeps himself connected to the web for the entire day, of course except when he's dozed off! Add +Chetan Bhawani on Google Plus for more!

Wow so basically this phone does everything right. And that 199$ base model price MUST be on contract 199$ off contract is unfathomable. This phone indeed has superior top of the line specs and ASUS has delivered with this phone. ASUS rise is a nice one to watch and The tip comes with the Zenfone 2, the first PHONE to have 4GB of RAM which alone is incredible. Group that with great design unique colors superb cameras beautiful Zen Ui which has tinted status bars- a feature I really love and have on my phone using the Xposed framework. Overall this phone looks to be an early entry for smartphone of the year and rightfully so. Other companies might look to what ASUS just unveiled and strive to match it so ASUS will start a super trend!! Way to go ASUS!

This is gonna blast others ( like Chinese brand Xiaomi and one plus) with its specs and price, brushed metal finish which just looks like an awesome smartphone and feels premium and they have to the way of LG like volume key on the back, lots of apps and gestures integrated like ZenFone motion ( single hand use) latest Android and much more. Asus is going to boom

Jugal Mudoi

Wowww… Everything just looks unbelievable.. it has got all the top notch features that and the camera also with the OIS. The design of the phone looks good and yes ergonomically the perfect because it wisely adopts the best part of LG and that make this device sleem by sides and easy to use for pushing the volume buttons onto back. They priced greatly for this phone that one would think at least once of buying this device. I hope other brands also learn from this in this year. Just excited to see the review of Zenfone 2.

Me too first up would be their hands on review and what they feel about when they get it in their hands. The G Flex 2 got a fairly high score and I’m expecting a MUCH better result with this. Asus has the time to definitely be proud of what they made!

Karthik Gopinath G

Asus is making doing great competition from the Intel side and against the snapdragon models

Suraj Racharla

I see Asus in the future really picking up their game. Asus has achieved the standards of early 2014 but will this phone be able to stand on its on in 2015. New technologies are coming and clearly much better ones as seen in the CES shows. But price will tell if the phone is worth it!! But aside from that its a great phone!!

kuldeep singh

Atleast i want one of u diamond cell phone in my pocket i hope some day some how i can win this wish me luck guys keep tweets

diveek

If the price comes at Rs 17,999 then people will even forget Xiaomi and OnePlus